About Kumar

Kumar supports the global oils and fats industry with innovative and sustainable solutions to process engineering challenges.

Kumar has been proudly family-owned and professionally managed for over 85 years. Our independence allows us a vested interest in our customers' success, allowing us to seamlessly connect the dots between expertise, processes and resources and deliver irrefutable outcomes. We think and plan in generations, rather than quarters and invest not only in innovation and the future of our business but also in our people so we can all grow together.

Our Purpose

We're on a mission to deliver process engineering excellence to the global oils and fats industry through innovative problem solving, sustainable solutions, cost optimizations and operational excellence that inspires trust and adds value to our relationships.

Our Vision

To be the world's most customer-centric process technology and EPCC company, and meet customer needs through innovation, sustainability, empowerment and deliver quality and impeccable service within the framework of world-class professional standards.

Our core values

Integrity

We are guided by our ethics and strive to do the right thing even when no one is looking. We value honesty, transparency and are committed to doing what's best for our people, customers and partners.

Innovation

We are forward thinkers who challenge ourselves every day to innovate sustainable solutions to our customer challenges, big or small. With every solution, we look for ways to improve our standards and move the company forward.

Continuous improvement

Our customers are the soul of our business. We take great pride in delivering a seamless experience and strive to meet or exceed their expectations with each interaction by continuously improving our products, services and processes.

Agility

We strive to introduce new product lines, upgrades and manufacturing improvements that meet the rapidly evolving needs of our customers and the markets we operate in, resulting in lower operating costs or improved profitability for our customers and a competitive advantage for us.

A limitless future

Over three generations, Kumar has evolved to deliver innovation and process engineering excellence to the oils and fats industry. We're powered by technology and innovation and the desire to contribute to the evolution of the oils and fats industry. This is how we got here.

1939

Kumar Metal Industries is born as a small workshop in Lahore, erstwhile Punjab, making spare parts for machinery used in oil mills. Our customers include Tata Oil Mills, Godrej Oil Mills and the Lever Brothers.

1947

In the aftermath of the partition, our founder, Onkarnath Manaktala, leaves behind everything he painstakingly built and comes to India with his family.

He rents a small workshop in central Mumbai and starts over and supplies spare parts for oil mills machinery.

1955

The company begins manufacturing oil expellers.

1960s

Expellers had become the company’s core offering.

Our founder’s brother, G.K. Manaktala, takes the first steps that define Kumar as an exporter with his forays into the East African markets, including Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

A close friend opens doors in Sudan.

1970s

Our Chairman, Sudhir Manaktala, joins the business, followed, a few years later, by our Managing Director, Sunil Manaktala.

Sudhir continues our Africa expansion while Sunil opens South East Asia, Australia and West Africa.

We sell our machines to Marico and VVD in India, who depend on Kumar for the robust build and precision engineering of our machines, and deep understanding of the extraction process.

1980s

The company grows exponentially and makes substantial investments in machinery and factory space.

Our company headquarters move to a new factory on the outskirts of Mumbai to accommodate our growing operations with over 100 employees.

Aditya, the first of the third-gen Manaktalas joins the company. We add new verticals and products to the Kumar roster.

2000s

Kumar is one of the largest oil mill manufacturers worldwide, with an expansive global footprint and premium offerings at an affordable price.

We relocate our manufacturing operations to a sprawling new factory on the outskirts of Mumbai to meet increasing demand.

Rishabh, the second of the third-gen Manaktalas joins the company

2000s

We enter a technology collaboration with Crown Iron Works, USA, to manufacture and sell solvent extraction plants and refineries in the Indian, African and Asian markets.

We manufacture and install the largest SEP made by an Indian company at 4000 TPD for a Crown customer in Brazil.

2010s

Akshaya Manaktala, the last of the third-gen to join the business comes aboard.

We enter into a technology collaboration with Arisdyne Systems, inventors of CFC™️ Systems, a novel yet proven technology for increased oil yield in refining systems.

2020s

We enter into a manufacturing license with Anderson International Corp, USA, a 130-year-old leader in the vegetable/oilseed extraction industry and pioneers of Expeller® press technology to manufacture and sell Anderson Dox™️ Extruders and Solvex™️ Expanders in the Indian market.

We set up the Onkarnath Manaktala Innovation Centre on our HQ campus to collaborate with our technology partners and customers, seeking solutions to the critical questions our industry faces today and in the future.

2020s

Biju George Palayil takes a leadership role as CEO to drive the next phase of global expansion

From a tiny workshop in South Mumbai to sprawling, technologically advanced factories and a global footprint across the expanse of process engineering for oils and fats industries, Kumar defines success at every step.